Disposable absorbent articles, such as baby diapers and adult incontinence products are well known in the art. These articles represent consumer products which address the consumers' demand for products which increases the convenience of everyday living. In particular, it has long been desired to provide disposable absorbent articles which are easily removed from the wearer when soiled and minimize cleaning of the wearer after removal. A particularly desired feature of such a disposable absorbent article is to minimize cleaning of fecal material which is present on the wearer's skin after the soiled disposable absorbent article is removed.
One particular attempt to improve cleaning of fecal material from the skin of the wearer is to provide a void space in the disposable absorbent article to receive the fecal material and isolate it from the skin of the wearer. Typically, the void space is intermediate the topsheet which contacts the skin of the wearer and the core which absorbs fluid excretions, such as urine. In this arrangement, the topsheet has an aperture or other passageway which communicates the fecal material to the void space.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,877 issued May 5, 1987 to Williams discloses a diaper having a urine impervious facing sheet with an aperture which allows waste materials to pass through the facing sheet into the absorbent portion of the diaper. The void space in the Williams diaper is formed by a convex upwardly shaped core.
Another manner in which a void space may be formed is by removing material from the core to provide a cavity. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,043,325 issued Jun. 9, 1936 to Jackson, Jr. discloses a sanitary pad having a pocket to receive eliminated stools. The pocket is formed by the removal of loosely packed material from the top layer of the absorbent in the pad. This construction is also shown in the catamenial napkin art, as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,065 issued Mar. 15, 1988 to Yamada. Yamada teaches a sanitary napkin having a recess which circumscribes the excretory organs and formed by a void space in a flexible absorbent element.
Another manner in which a void space may be formed is by layering a core made of constant thickness. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,380 issued Dec. 24, 1985 to Tharel teaches a diaper having a longitudinally oriented and centered opening formed by symmetrically opposed S-folds. The S-folds define three superimposed layers laterally extending from the longitudinally centered opening to the side margins of the diaper.
French Patent 2,561,078 published Sep. 20, 1985 in the name of LeFebvre and European Patent Application 0,355,740 published Feb. 28, 1990 in the name of Enloe teach diapers having U-shaped members defining the void space. Particularly, LeFebvre teaches a diaper having an air chamber to create the void space and which conforms to the buttocks. Enloe teaches a diaper having transversely aligned ridges or a U-shaped member made of resilient foam to inhibit the movement of fecal material. Enloe further teaches the resilient foam ridge member may be straight and cross directionally oriented.
One attempt to improve upon disposable absorbent articles having a void space is illustrated in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,536 issued Jan. 9, 1990 to DesMarais et al. DesMarais et al. teaches a disposable absorbent article having a liner and a passageway therethrough. The liner is longitudinally contracted by elastic strands disposed longitudinally nonadjacent the passageway. This arrangement improves the fit of the article, particularly the liner, to the wearer.
Another attempt to improve upon disposable absorbent articles having a void space is illustrated in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,147 issued Feb. 5, 1991 to Freeland. Freeland discloses a disposable absorbent article having a liner with a passageway therethrough. The liner is entirely or partially composed of elastic panels. The elastic panels register the passageway with the anal opening, minimizing the size of the passageway necessary to communicate fecal material into the void space, so that unnecessary exposure of the skin to collected fecal material is avoided.
One attempt to improve upon the teachings of Freeland is illustrated in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,416 issued Aug. 6, 1991 to Allen et al. Allen et al. discloses a disposable absorbent article having an elastically extensible topsheet made of a material which can be elongated to conform to the shape of the wearer while maintaining very low contact pressure at high elongations. This arrangement provides a topsheet which closely conforms to the wearer without causing undue discomfort or irritation.
One drawback of the prior art teachings according to Williams, Tharel, DesMarais et al., Freeland, and Allen et al. is the void space does not remain open during use. While the more advanced of these teachings utilize elastic components to ensure the void space is created and registered with the anal opening, the void space may collapse when the wearer is sitting.
The prior art teachings according to Jackson, Jr., Yamada, LeFebvre, and Enloe teach support members which may hold the void space open. However, these support members teach containment of the fecal material near the passageway. Once these disposable absorbent articles are heavily loaded, subsequent loadings of fecal material may not be communicated through the opening but instead remain in contact with the skin of the wearer. This arrangement does not provide easier cleaning of the wearer since the fecal material is not isolated in the void space.
It is an object of this invention to provide a disposable absorbent article which provides for easier cleaning of fecal material from the skin of the wearer. Particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide a disposable absorbent article which not only communicates fecal material away from the wearer, but preferably isolates the fecal material in a void space.